This seems to be the new theme with books I have read over the past few months. It's always the guy that needs a fake fiance for something or other and they end up falling for each other. This one really isn't much different, baseball great Cole Collins donated a date to a charity auction and Liza won that date thanks to her mother's bid. Liza and Cole know each other from when they were teenagers, and haven't really talked since then. Liza thinks that her crush is over with, but you can tell that deep down it is still there. Starts off that Liza doesn't really want to "date" Cole, then his Agent Frank promises to give her a $500,000 donation to BADD if she dates Cole and doesn't fall for him. Though as we all know, things begin to heat up between the two and of course they each fall for the other. You'll have to read it to find out exactly what happens! ( )

SBTB is having a quarterly challenge, and one of the categories is ‘read a sports book.’ SO this is my first time reading a sports romance. The only sport that I would actually want to read about is baseball, and GR helpfully has a list of these to chose from.

I chose The Practice Proposal because the summary looked cute and I like baseball. I am a lifelong Orioles fan, and by some magical coincidence the heroine and her family are affiliated with and big fans of the Orioles! That was nice.

Liza is very likeable, Cole is an obvious ass at the outset. His agent seems a bit shady, (maybe that is how all sports agents are?) and unscrupulous. The tension between Cole and Liza’s father seemed contrived. The story goes as you would think it does, nothing surprising happens. Too much time is devoted to how hot they both are. But it is cute and light and overly sweet.



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Cole & Liza both are looking for a relationship for different reasons. Cole is looking to clean up his bad boy image before it costs him his career. Liza wants to get her mom off her back & has had a crush on Cole since high school. Cole's agent, Frank sees them together on a date for a charity function, a light bulb goes off. He meets with them both separately to get them to agree to a fake relationship, giving them each something they want if they follow through. Frank didn't count on their chemistry. Will this relationship turn into the real thing!

What a nice sweet romance! The chemistry was hot & intense but nothing was overt. The characters were well defined & very likable. All women have a crush in their history & wish something had come of it so it's easy to relate to the characters & the plot. Tracy managed to pull the reader in from the beginning with the premise of the hot bad boy baseball player & the girl from high school with a crush. She keeps the reader involved with humor & by engaging the readers sympathies with the issues the two of them have to work through. I loved the premise of having them go through a series of contests to get to know each other & bringing everything into the present by having them tweet about each other. This was a funny romantic read that I would recommend to all of my friends.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

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An absolutely amazing love story. Incredible characters and a fresh storyline make this a book you don't want to miss. Tracy March did it again with this one. I highly recommend it. ( )

Reviewed for Read Your Writes Book Reviews
by Kim

I was looking for a comfort read and a book to make me enjoy reading again and I found both in THE PRACTICE PROPOSAL by Tracy March.

Liza Sutherland is a twenty-seven-year old who is “happily” living in her own little self sustained bubble. She’s happy to watch her beloved Orioles, co-owned by her parents, and work for BADD (Be Aware of the Dangers of Doping) Athletes Foundation, founded by her mother. For the past two years her parents, John and Sylvia Sutherland, her best friend Paige, baseball, and BADD have been her life. She doesn’t date and she isn’t interested in it, after the death of the love of her life, Wes.

Cole Collins is the playboy of MLB. At twenty nine, Cole is the Nationals’ All-Star first baseman, who by all appearances has everything a man could want. Cole has a great career, dates actresses and models, and women everywhere adore him. For the past seven years, Cole has overcome a lot and fought hard to get where he is. But something is missing. He is on the cusp of having the Nationals award him a very lucrative contract. Problem... His wild ways have just caught up with him, in the form of his recent arm accessory and him driving drunk, with her having drugs in her purse.

Liza and Cole originally met each other eleven years previously, when Cole was one of the boys attending BADD’s summer baseball camp. They struck up a good friendship. In fact, Cole was Liza’s teenage crush. Cole looked at Liza’s parents as the parents he never had. To him, they were his family, until it became time for Cole to get drafted into MLB and something went wrong.

This time around, Liza and Cole come together in what I can only say is destiny. This is the story of two people who start off using the other for gain, but somewhere in the process find the missing piece in their lives. These two have emotional baggage, but together they overcome it.

Pace of the story: Perfect!!!!

Positives: The characters are ALL likeable if not loveable. Liza and Cole make a great team and couple. Cole is a great guy despite his past. He does simple romance like no one else. And when the guy proposes, he does it like no one has ever done before.

Negatives: Are you kidding? There AREN’T any!

Do I Recommend the book: Heck yeah.

Bottom Line: Tracy hit it out of the ballpark with this book. She even threw in a curveball, for good measure. (Puns intended.) You might need a tissue or two. I can’t wait to read more of this series.

Source: NetGalley ( )